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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
belonged to Gilberd is known to exist. A bachelor, and a careful man, he probably
died wealthy, and Mr. Cooke says that, "he had during his residence in London
amassed a valuable collection of magnets, globes, minerals, and philosophical
instruments which, together with his library, he bequeathed to the College of
Physicians, and it remained in the house of the college at the bottom of Amen
Corner until 1666, when it was unhappily totally destroyed in the great fire of
London."
It is stated by Morant that Gilberd bequeathed his portrait to the Schools
Gallery at Oxford, but it appears to be now lost. A portrait was published in
1796, by Harding, of Pall Mall, "from an original picture in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford." Dr. Richardson describes it as representing him "as a man who had
passed the middle age, but who was of firm and thoughtful countenance ; and yet,
if I mistake not, a man of cheerful and even playful humour. A sort of subdued
smile sits on his face, as if the painter had told him to assume, for the moment,
his most serious expression, and as if the effort were rather perplexing. The
forehead is bold and finely shaped, the eyes keen and penetrating, the nose well-
formed and strong, the lips compressed, the chin less firm than the lips, but not
retreating ; the cheeks rounded, and the lobe of the ear large, a sign—according
to Laycock—of a good cerebral circulation. He wears a moustache in this picture,
and a short beard, minus whiskers, and is topped by a tall hat with a somewhat
narrow turned-up brim. Around his neck is the linen plaited abundant frill,
borrowed in design, I believe, from Muscovy, in regard to fashion ; and his body
is enveloped in a dark robe, possibly the collegiate or doctorial robe of his day."
The portrait is engraved by Clamp, and it is stated that the oil-painting was by
one Harding; but Dr. Richardson says that he could find no painter of that name
connected with the time, and he suggests that it was a copy from the missing
Oxford original, by "one of the Hardings, probably the father of the water-colour
painter, James Duffield Harding, who was the son of an artist living at the latter
part of last century."
It may be reasonably supposed that in his later years Gilberd returned to his
native place, Colchester, "where he became, according to Wood, the chief person
* * » He was buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity, hard by his birth-place
and death-place ; and over his tomb in the chancel his brothers raised a handsome
monument with a Latin inscription "of which the following is a translation :—
Ambrose and William Gilberd have placed this Tomb
In memory of Brotherly Piety
To WILLIAM GILBERD, Senior, Gentleman, and Doctor of Medicine.
This, the eldest son of Jerome Gilberd, Gentleman,
Was born in the Town of Colchester,
Studied the art of Medicine at Cambridge,
Practised the same for more than Thirty Years at London
with singular credit and success,
Hence called to Court, he was received with highest favour
By Queene Elizabeth,
To whom, and to her successor, James, he served as Chief Physician.
He composed a book celebrated amongst foreigners concerning
the Magnet, for Nautical Science.
He died in the Year of Human Redemption 1603, the last day of
November,
In the 63rd year of his age.